Selective frequency conversion with coupled time-modulated cavities

Abstract

Time dependence in photonic structures leads to a number of intriguing and useful phenomena such as optical isolation, topological states of light and frequency conversion. Here we present a mechanism to achieve efficient and selective frequency conversion using a system of two timemodulated cavities. This setup allows to fine-tune the conversion process by controlling important parameters such as the inter-cavity coupling and the external excitation frequency. Both symmetric and asymmetric (up-or down-conversion) outputs can be targeted at will. We describe the processes extensively, with for example a leading role for the dynamic modes of the coupled system, the Floquet modes.